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Icicle Gorge

Featured In: Day Hiking: Central Cascades, by Craig Romano.
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A delightful loop along a tight gorge carved by the Icicle River, this hike makes for a perfect early and late-season leg stretcher. Its good tread and gentle terrain also make it ideal for children, first-time hikers, and those trying to get back into the groove. Leisurely stroll along this major tributary of the Wenatchee River, watching for darting dippers and admiring raucous rapids and swirling pools.

From the trailhead kiosk, veer right. The trail left leads to the Icicle Gorge View Trail. In 0.1 mile you'll come to the Icicle Gorge River Trail. Left or right, it's your choice. I prefer heading downstream first.

Turning left, follow the good trail through a diverse forest of conifers. Undulate between open pine and cool, dark fir stands. Take time to read the interpretive signs. After crossing Chatter Creek come to a junction with the Gorge View Trail. Continue straight, coming to nice viewing spots of the gorge below. Take a short diversion to check out the old Chatter Creek Guard Station, but respect the privacy of anyone who may be spending the evening there.

The trail drops down to cross the creek (elev. 2650 ft) on a well-photographed bridge at a well-photographed section of the water-sculptured gorge. Now heading upriver, pass great viewpoints of rapids and cascades. Cross a cedar swamp, Trout Creek, and various outwashes and channels and tempting huckleberry patches.

The creek mellows as the trail travels alongside it through open pine and fir forest. Cross Jack Creek and soon after come to FR 76 at the Rock Island Campground at 2.5 miles. Turn right, crossing Icicle Creek (elev. 2800 ft) on the road bridge, picking up the trail once again at the edge of the campground. Then travel downriver to more excellent gorge views.

Pass the junction with the western terminus of the Gorge View Trail. Continue downstream through cedar groves and along scenic bluffs, occasionally brushing up against FR 76. At 3.9 miles arrive back to the spur trail leading to the trailhead. Not a bad little loop, huh?

Driving Directions:

From milepost 99 on US 2, at the western edge of Leavenworth, follow the Icicle Creek Road (Forest Road 76) for 15.3 miles (the pavement ends at 12.3 miles), passing the Chatter Creek Guard Station and reaching the trailhead on the left (south) side of the road (elev. 2700 ft). Privy available.

Recent Trip Reports

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There are 29 trip reports for this hike. See all trip reports for this hike.

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Icicle Gorge — Jul 05, 2010 — NWLumsdens05

Day hike

Features: Wildflowers blooming

Issues: Blowdowns

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This trail is in excellent shape. It is one of the few trails in the Icicle Canyon area that allows...

This trail is in excellent shape. It is one of the few trails in the Icicle Canyon area that allows dogs, which is why we diverted here after discovering that Eightmile Lake did not allow dogs. Due to the washout of the road approaching the trail head you can tack on an extra 2 miles in each direction to get from the temporary parking lot at the washout to the trail head.

The trail passes through some beautiful forests, has tons of wild flowers blooming still, and is nicely shaded for most of the hike. There was only one blowdown that we had to pass over. The bridge and river view at the most downstream end of the loop is quite a sight. The Rock Island Campground at the fall upstream end of the trail is quite possibly the most scenic car campground I have ever encountered and it feels cut off from humanity with the washout further down stream. Too bad.

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Icicle Gorge — May 22, 2010 — OutdoorDan

Day hike

Issues: Blowdowns | Mudholes | Road to trailhead inaccessible

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I joined my friends at Ida Creek on Icicle Creek for some over night camping and told them I was hik...

I joined my friends at Ida Creek on Icicle Creek for some over night camping and told them I was hiking to the trail as soon as I arrived. The road is washed out still of course just past Ida Creek so we would be walking around 2 miles to the trail head itself near Chatter Creek Campground. It was late in the afternoon when we started but figured we could get in at least some of the actual trail before a late dinner.

Four of us decided to make the trip and soon we came across the road washout. From washout there is a trail behind a gate that goes around the flooded area in the forest. The water was running fairly deep and swift between the trees. We found evidence of beavers in this area on the way back, several trees had been gnawed on. We also came across a couple muddy spots with water along the way. It wasn't long before we came back to the other side of the washed out road and turned uphill toward Chatter Creek. We walked along the road and almost missed the first access point on the gorge trail. It sits right across from the ranger station and drops down to a bridge over Icicle Creek.

We made our way down to what is a massive torrent of white water flowing over the rock in the river bed. Soon after the bridge the trail climbed up to a nice viewpoint of the river below and we saw a raging creek coming out of the trees before dumping into Icicle Creek. We probably followed the gorge loop trail for a mile or so total. There were a few blowdowns that could be stepped over here and one we actually had to hop over along the way. We stopped after about an hour and took a break by the creek before turning back. I would like to come back and walk the full 3 1/2 miles of this trail when the road is rebuilt.

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Icicle Gorge Loop — May 23, 2009 — Maisie

Day hike

Features: Wildflowers blooming

Issues: Road to trailhead inaccessible

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Icicle Creek Road is out approximately 2 miles from the trailhead. This adds 4 miles round trip to t...

Icicle Creek Road is out approximately 2 miles from the trailhead. This adds 4 miles round trip to the hike, but also means you can find lots of solitude even on Memorial Day weekend. Even with the extra miles, there is lots to see on this relatively level hike.

Parking is along one side of the road only, just beyond Ida Creek Campground. The old road is now the river bed. The bypass trail is a jeep type road with some trail bypass sections. Hikers should use the trail bypasses to avoid muddy sections, bicyclists may prefer to stay on the bypass road. Timewise for hiking, they are the same.

The real trail starts up the hill from the Chatter Creek Guard Station, but on the other side of the road, before Chatter Creek Campground. We started with the wooden bridge over Icicle Gorge and delighted in the swirling gneiss and general roar of the river. On the far bank the trail meanders near then far from the creek, crossing small streams and a cedar wetlands, finally back down on the flood plain of Icicle Creek. We had such a good time moseying along that all of a sudden it was turn around time and we hadn't reached upstream bridge yet although we had reached the main channel of creek. We found out later that we must have stopped just a little too soon for the whole loop. No matter, it was all worthwhile.

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Icicle Gorge Loop #1596 — Jul 16, 2008 — Just a hiker

Day hike

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Got to Leavenworth about 10:30am and it was already pretty warm. Hit Safeway for some supplies. Stop...

Got to Leavenworth about 10:30am and it was already pretty warm. Hit Safeway for some supplies. Stopped by the Ranger Station to scope out snow levels and what might be a moderate hike starting around noon. I had heard of Icicle Gorge (3.5 mile loop) but its trailhead is beyond the Icicle Road closure (Doctor Creek sluffed) near Ida Campgrounds. At first the ranger indicated that the trail was not accessible. I think after asking about Colchuck Lake and Fourth of July trail the ranger decided I might be interested in the Gorge using the bypass trail. That makes it about 7.5 or 8 miles. Dropped my stuff at my friend's abode and changed clothes.

With the washout, the trail starts near the Ida Creek Campground. You walk the road for a while. Just shy of the washout, there is a bypass trail to the right. The part of the washout you can see at this point is impressive. Icicle Creek flows along the old roadbed for a couple of hundred yards you can see. The bypass runs for a good distance dumping you back on the road. Oh, both sections of road offer some patches of shade, depending on the sun angle but it can be warm. The entire grade, including the road and the official gorge trail are very moderate, just a bit more than flat - checking I see the top of the loop (near Rock Island Campground) is about 2,800 feet and Ida Creek is around 2,500 feet. The gorge trail has a few ups and downs.

The official trail starts just near the Chatter Creek campground. It is not well-marked but is what looks to be the second pulloff with a boulder rock barrier and the trails just drops off and then down to a bridge. You can either stay on this side of the Icicle and do the loop counterclockwise or cross a bridge and follow the clock. There are a series of informative signs along the way.

There is also a dedication area (see photo) with open views up stream. The trail meanders and crosses a number of smaller creeks on some very nice bridges. It passes a marsh and rolls above the gorge (not that extensive).

Near the top of the loop, shy of Rock Island I saw my first bear in the Cascades in a number of years. It was a pretty good size and I clearly startled it as it loped along the main Icicle for a 100 yards or so in and out of view, finally disappearing.

You cross the main Icicle on the Rock Island concrete bridge, and head into the smaller camping area on its eastern (for want of a better direction) side of the bridge and re-find the trail - not well delineated. Meander back to the start and walk the road again.

I don't know if the washout is totally undriveable or if officially closed but there were four vehicles on the far side and they were either trapped in May and remain trapped or ......

A pleasant day to just walk in prep for the next day or two.

Icicle Creek and the dedication area are the photos

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Icicle Gorge Loop #1596 — Jun 13, 2008 — Bob and Barb

Day hike

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We hiked the flagged trail around the washout area of the Icicle Creek Road. This starts at about MP...

We hiked the flagged trail around the washout area of the Icicle Creek Road. This starts at about MP 13 and returns to the road at about MP 14. The first part of the trail is pretty much brushed out, but then the brush becomes thicker so that long pants are a good thing to be wearing. We hiked part of the Icicle Gorge Loop Because of our late start we only did about a mile of the loop beginning across the road from the Chatter Creek Guard Station.

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